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In a highly-publicised move to appear conciliatory towards the Opposition, especially in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s electoral debacle in Delhi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu called on Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a one-to-one meeting to seek her cooperation for the Budget session of Parliament beginning Monday.
The meeting lasted for about 20 minutes, in which Gandhi expressed her concerns about the ordinance to amend the land acquisition Bill, suggesting this will become the biggest issue in a session that will see, among others, tabling of the 14th Finance Commission Report, the Railway Budget and the first full Budget of the Narendra Modi government. A slightly diluted version of the Land Acquisition Ordinance that allows state governments to take a call on the version they want to implement, could be a mid-way measure after the ministry of rural development called its officials for an emergency meeting on Saturday.
Naidu told reporters the government was ready to discuss everything to ensure a productive Budget session. In a bid to appear transparent - and after public counsel from the President of India - the government will table all ordinances for ratification in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The Rajya Sabha will adjourn after obituaries. A sitting Congress member , Manorama Dobriyal Sharma from Uttarakhand, had died four days ago.
Naidu later hosted a meeting of all parties to seek mutual cooperation in the session. Prime Minister Modi joined the meeting to give it heft. Later, the PM also tweeted about how important it was to have a 'disturbance-free Budget session'.
It is possible the government might decide to meet the opposition half-way on the land ordinance. As it stands, the ordinance - which proposes to do away with the social impact assessment in the definition of 'public purpose' and curtail the process of consultation with land losers to help industry get land faster - has been criticised severely by most political parties including the Trinamool Congress, the Biju Janata Dal and the Left parties, which are not members of the United Progressive Alliance.
The BJP will also have to listen to sister organisations such as the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, both of which have publicly warned the government against diluting the provisions of the Land acquisition Act in favour of industry. Several farmers' organisations also met home minister Rajnath Singh to ask him to get the government to change its stand. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rural Development Minister Birender Singh were present. "We (farmer groups) were assured by ministers that the government would take into account our concerns. We have told them the ordinance was brought in haste and interests of farmers were ignored. The ministers heard us patiently. From our talks today, we are confident our voice will be heard. The ministers said the voice of farmers should have been heard. We have got positive signals," said Bharatiya Kisan Union general-secretary Yudhvir Singh.
The session will open with the customary address to the two houses of Parliament by the President. Although important Bills are pending after the winter session, which was a washout, financial business is usually priority in the Budget session.
